Eight accounts from ancient Chinese literature have been found that de
scribe phenomena in contexts and in metaphors that are distinctly auro
ral. These accounts relate to personages purported to have lived in th
e third millennium B.C. The historicity of the personages and the actu
al dates of their lives are still a matter of controversy. Thus the ac
counts should be considered at a minimum as valuable additions to the
inventory of ancient allusions to the aurora. At the other extreme, if
taken at face value, they document the occurrence of low-latitude aur
orae in the third millennium B.C.